<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Bookstore To Another World by Ildreibooklet</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27962993">Bookstore To Another World</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ildreibooklet/pseuds/Ildreibooklet'>Ildreibooklet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:40:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27962993</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ildreibooklet/pseuds/Ildreibooklet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the future Luz and Amity get married and open an interdimensional bookstore between the demon and human realms.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Bookstore To Another World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Credit to Theukon on TOH discord for the idea, it interested me so much it decided to write it. I don't know how many chapters it will be and I don't have plans for an arc, so it will be open-ended and each chapter will probably be self-contained and short.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>               “Mom I’m bored.”</p>
<p>               “Yes I know dear.”</p>
<p>               “Mom I’m hungry.”</p>
<p>               “You said that already dear.”</p>
<p>               “No I didn’t. I said I was bored.”</p>
<p>               “You did say that, dear.”</p>
<p>               “Mom, I’m—.”</p>
<p>               “Oh look, a new bookstore! Maybe they’ll have a book for your great uncle Peter.”</p>
<p>The mother stopped in front of the store. Its name was written in bold letters overhead: <em>Books To Another World</em>. A cheesy metaphor for a store title? The mother grinned at it, this looked like her kind of bookstore. The window display half had a good few novels that she had heard of, maybe she would buy one for herself too; and the other half showed more exotic books. Those had unfamiliar and unusual titles, were bound in rougher bookbindings, and one even had an eye that seemed to track her every movement. The mother examined them for a bit and decided they were foreign translations from overseas. She didn’t see an open/closed sign, and no one was inside, but the lights were on. The bookstore seemed a little strange actually, the mother tilted her head. She didn’t remember it being there last week.</p>
<p>               “Mom can we go in?” The little boy hung from her hand towards the door.</p>
<p>               “Don’t be impatient, of course we’re going in. It’s always good to support your local businesses,” the lights <em>were</em> on, a little exploration wouldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>The door chimed as it opened. Inside, the shop was cozy, but well-packed with books. An empty desk stood at the far wall, a curled-up otter sleeping on the counter. In one corner was a café, the chalkboard menu blank.</p>
<p>               “Hello?” the mother called out.</p>
<p>               “Oh, a costumer!” a woman with auburn hair and…pointy ears? poked out from behind a bookshelf. “Are you looking for a book, or browsing?”</p>
<p>               The mother decided it would be impolite to comment on the ears, “Well, we’re looking for a book for uncle Peter’s birthday. He’s an abstract artist, you see, so I’m thinking a book about abstractionism. Also, do you have a kid’s corner?”</p>
<p>               “Right this way. Abstract artist? We certainly have a few books he’s never seen before, but abstractionism isn’t a thing in the demon realm. Grundgbism is probably rather similar though. But I’d like to ask my wife to be sure, she has a better eye for artstyles. We haven’t technically opened yet because she’s still out for some last minute stock.”</p>
<p>               “Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t see a closed sign and the lights were on, we can come back later.”</p>
<p>               “No, that’s alright. We’re going to open in a few hours anyway,” the shopkeeper bent down to make a selection from the rack of children’s books and presented it to the boy with an encouraging smile. “I don’t think you’ve read this book before, but I loved it when I was your age. I think you’ll probably like it too.”</p>
<p>               The child considered the gift for a few seconds before accepting it. The mother told her son to thank the nice lady and go read in that children’s chair over there.</p>
<p>               She returned to the conversation, “Did you say realm? Ah the store name, let me tell you I really like that name. The metaphor might be cheesy but I love that kind of thing.”</p>
<p>               “Metaphor?” The storeowner looked puzzled for a minute. “Oh I see what you mean, it does work in that way too.”</p>
<p>               It was the mother’s turn to be confused. “Uh—.”</p>
<p>. . .</p>
<p>The boy stopped paying attention to the adults’ conversation and started reading. The book was titled <em>Otabin the Bookmaker. </em>He hadn’t read it before, so he was a little suspicious of it. But the pointy-eared lady seemed nice, so he gave the book a try. By the time the boy got to the end, he decided that he loved Otabin very much. He might have started reading it all over again, if he hadn’t looked up and seen the door.</p>
<p>It was next to the bookstore entrance, just separated by a bookshelf so they hadn’t noticed it when coming into the shop. The door was brown in a curving pattern; the doorknob in the center; and the upper half was taken up by a large and yellow, vertically slit eye. As small children are wont to do, the boy immediately went up to the door and opened it. And then he stepped into another world.</p>
<p>Monsters of all shapes and sizes moved through the marketplace. A hooved triclops walked next to a man-sized fly; a centipede with a human face chittered to a four-armed satyr; a vendor whose whole face was just a giant gaping mouth sold a cone filled with screaming eyeballs to a face-chested centaur. And the boy goggled in front of it all.</p>
<p>               “Did Amity open the store already? I told her to wait until I brought the last of the stock.”</p>
<p>An tan-skinned woman, wearing a beanie, stood in front of the boy, a stack of magically levitating books behind her. She held a wood staff, at the top it had a carved figure of a Kea.</p>
<p>               “Are you a monster, lady?” the kid pointed at her, his mouth still hanging open.</p>
<p>               “Don’t be silly, I’m just a human,” The woman flicked out a fan of glyph cards between her fingers and did a flourish. “With a magic side!”</p>
<p>               “Are you a witch?”</p>
<p>               “I’m a human witch. And <em>you</em> are…” she became more serious for a moment. “A little boy who shouldn’t be out here on your own. Where’s your mom? Is she back in the bookstore?”</p>
<p>               He nodded.</p>
<p>               “Then we’d better go in before someone eats you, shall we?”</p>
<p>She took the child’s hand and led him back through the portal. Inside, the storekeeper and the mother were still deep in conversation. She nudged the floating bookstack to the side and tapped her staff on the floor. The bookstack gently settled down.</p>
<p>               “I’m hungry,” the human witch felt a tug at her sleeve. “I want ice cream.”</p>
<p>               “Eye scream? You want eye scream?”</p>
<p>                The boy solemnly nodded.</p>
<p>               “I didn’t think other humans would even want some. It took Eda forever to convince me to try it.” She said this more to herself.</p>
<p>               “I love ice cream!” he protested indignantly, what kind of person was this woman who had to be convinced to try ice cream?</p>
<p>                She crouched to his level again, “Are you sure?”</p>
<p>                The boy nodded vehemently, as if this fact was the most obvious thing in the world.</p>
<p>               “Well,” she slyly glanced to the other adults. “I’m feeling a little peckish myself too. But you’ll have to promise you will stay absolutely right next to me, I wasn’t kidding about getting eaten.” She instructed with a perfectly earnest face.</p>
<p>                He hesitated slightly before nodding for the third time. The kid knew grown-ups liked to fib to him sometimes, but he couldn’t tell if this one was being sincere or just putting on a good deadpan.</p>
<p>               “Great, let’s go!" she took his hand again and led him back through the portal and, dodging a lumbering giant pair of legs, straight ahead to the stall with the gaping mouth-face vendor.</p>
<p>               “Hey Nancy,” the woman greeted the monster confectionary-seller. “How’re the kids?”</p>
<p>               “They are doing splendidly,” Nancy rumbled in a very deep voice. “Little Jagganoth has gotten over his cold.”</p>
<p>               “That’s great, I know how annoying flu tentacles can be,” she took out her wallet, which was alive and had teeth. She tickled the living pouch to open it and withdrew a batch of paper bills. “Is it still 20 snails for a cone? I’ll take two.”</p>
<p>                Nancy took up a waffle cone and reached into the tub to deposit an ample scoopful of screaming eyeballs, and exchanged it with the woman for 40 snails. Each eyeball had a tiny mouth that was constantly shrieking, without apparent need to draw breath. And then she filled up another cone and handed that one over as well, “give my regards to the Owl Lady and the wife.”</p>
<p>               “Will do Nancy. Have a good one,” she responded with fingerguns.</p>
<p>                The boy examined his treat with suspicion.</p>
<p>               “Didn’t you shay you liked eye shcream? Jusht try it, it’f great,” she smiled around a mouthful.</p>
<p>                He hesitated for a moment, and ate a single eyeball. It kept screaming in his mouth until he bit down on it, bursting the orb. It filled his mouth with a gush of flavor. His eyes opened wide, and he delightfully took a proper mouthful of the eye scream.</p>
<p>               “It’sh good huh?”</p>
<p>               “Hmmpfmp!” the boy answered with a wide grin.</p>
<p>. . .</p>
<p>               “There was a really weird door with a big eye and I opened it and there were monsters everywhere and there was a lady who said she was a witch and she got me some weird ice cream but it was really good and then we went back to the bookstore,” the kid hung from his mom’s arm and babbled excitedly.</p>
<p>               “That sounds like it was a really good book dear, we’ll have to come back some time when they’re properly open,” the mom led her kid out of the bookstore.</p>
<p>. . .</p>
<p>                Amity and Luz Noceda-Blight leaned against the counter and watched the mother and child walk away.</p>
<p>               “That woman was nice, but she told me entirely too much about her uncle Peter,” Amity commented.</p>
<p>               “I noticed you didn’t hide your ears,” Luz petted the sleeping otter.</p>
<p>               “You know my reservations. But now that we’re actually doing this, I’ll be behind you all the way,” she smiled at her wife.</p>
<p>                 Luz smirked back, “It’ll be even easier than you thought. The kid wanted to try eye scream…and he loved it!”</p>
<p>                “<em>Eye scream?</em> Isn’t that one of the foods you said would particularly terrify other humans?”</p>
<p>                “He asked for it by name. The boy wandered through the portal, so he must have seen the stall just across selling it.”</p>
<p>                 “Well, if even the kids at least are so open to the Boiling Isles, then that does put my mind at ease about our bookstore.”</p>
<p>They ceased the conversation for a few minutes to watch the human world go by out the store window.</p>
<p>               “…<em>Dios.</em> I just realized he wasn’t asking for <em>eye, scream.</em> He was asking for <em>ice, cream.</em>”</p>
<p>Amity laughed so hard she woke the otter.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Who Wants Eye Scream?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Eda and Lilith visit the Books To Another World</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to <a href="url">https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theukon_dos/pseuds/Theukon_dos</a> and Oubliette for beta reading. I'm writing this at the rate of a few lines a night so expect a similar wait for future chapters too haha.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>               This chaotic city, shadowed by monolithic ribs; where monsters lived; houses had eyes and teeth; huge arms towered high to snatch dragons from the air and hold homes aloft in precision grips. From the air you could see it all spread out below you; the Old Quarter in the center with neatly gridded streets contained in a circle of dilapidated ruins of old fortress walls; outside that, the chaotic sprawl of urban growth from since the end of the Savage Ages (not to mention the massive bone coliseum off to the landward side). And Eda loved it all, this city called Bonesborough.</span>
</p>
<p> <span>“And that’s why bug scream is the best eye scream,” Eda was a few feet behind Lilith, both flying over the city.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Then you clearly have not been to Grogu’s next to the library.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Well you’ll have to show me where—ooh there’s the bookstore, Lily!”</span></p>
<p> <span>“I see it, down by the eye scream stall.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“No, it’s by the big box filled with bones!” Eda swooped down near the bone boutique, but what she thought was the bookstore was actually a barbershop.</span></p>
<p> <span>“It is definitely by the eye scream stall, Edalyn.” Lilith hovered above Books To Another World, which was indeed next to the eye scream stall.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Huh, the signs look similar from higher up,” her sister flew on over and, without regard for safety, and dropped directly down into the crowd. “Make a hole!”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Are you ever going to obey proper safety laws when landing?” Lilith sighed as she flapped down.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Hey, no one’s died yet,” Eda grinned, twirled Owlbert, and tapped him on the ground for effect, then started unscrewing him. “Nevermind that demon who broke his leg last week when I almost landed on him.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Safety rules aren’t there for definitely known eventualities Edalyn, they’re there for in case of </span><em><span>possible</span></em><span> accidents—.” But Eda had already headed inside the bookstore. Lilith abandoned her lecture in a huff and followed the Owl Lady in, unscrewing Ravenphyr as well.</span></p>
<p> <span>The door jangled with notes of unholy shrieking as it opened. Their palismans flew in ahead of the Clawthornes, and started exploring the room. Luz was at the counter, with Ozzy lounging on it. Two demons and a wide-eyed human were queuing up to the head desk. To the right was the café; the menu blackboard filled out with coffee, apple blood (with a footnote specifying that it was in fact not an euphemism for apple juice), vegan scones, and demonic scones; the barista was a demon girl whose flesh hair passively rippled as she filled out an order (“spider cow, human cow, or soy milk?”). To the left, skipping a few bookshelves, was the kid’s corner; a demon child whose scalp was another mouth and a human kid (the monstrous locale didn’t seem to perturb the human kid as much as it did the adult) were lying on the ground reading from the same book while a witch baby played with blocks.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>             Over the years, the owl beast curse, split in half by Lilith, had transformed the Clawthornes into a more literal rendition of Owl and Raven Lady. Though no longer bestial and feral, the curse still brought its share of bodily changes and instincts. However, in this case, Eda’s impulse to go straight to the desk; cutting through the line, and tousling her adoptive daughter’s hair, was entirely out of the Owl Lady’s own free will.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            “Hey there, kiddo.”</span>
</p>
<p> <span>“Eda, I’m with a customer!”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Can’t I greet my apprentice on her first week—Ow ow my ear ow Lily ow ow ow.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“She is with a customer, Edalyn,” Lilith remorselessly dragged Eda to the kid’s corner by her ear.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Touchy-feely grandma?” the customer commented to Luz. “I can relate.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“I’m not a grandma!”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p>
<p> <span>Lilith suppressed a snort. Her sister’s habit of making even a trip to the bookstore…interesting could be an annoyance at times, so she especially appreciated the amusement that the man’s comment getting a rise out of Edalyn gave her.</span></p>
<p> <span>“You didn’t have to tug my ear that hard, Lily. You almosht pulled out a feather.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“You’re right, I’m sor—are you eating a scone?”</span></p>
<p> <span>Eda glanced at the demonic scone in her hand that she had just taken a bite out of, tiny multicolored bits were wriggling on the inside, “is thish a trick question?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“How did you even swipe it from the other end of the counter?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Relax sish,” she swallowed. “I’ll pay for it, I was just feeling a little peckish.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“No, you don’t have to do that, Eda,” Luz skipped over, having changed places at the desk with Amity. “It’s on the house for you!”</span></p>
<p> <span>“What do you say about </span><em><span>that</span></em><span>, Lily?” Eda reached over for a second hair tousling. “How’s my favorite apprentice doing?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“No, don’t let Edalyn get away with it. Force my sister into making a legitimate financial transaction for once in her life,” Lilith tried to keep a straight face, but a tiny smirk escaped her control.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Hey, I resent that. I can count the number of times I’ve bought things fair and square on </span><em><span>two</span></em><span> hands.” The Owl Lady brandished two fingers with her scone hand at her sister before taking another bite.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>             Luz giggled, “I’ve always been your only apprentice Eda, and I thought I graduated years ago.” Luz’s hair had now been thoroughly disarranged by this point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>             “You can shtill have a favorite of one thing, and once an apprentish, alwaysh an apprentish,” she swallowed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>             Lilith glanced at the wall clock, “Oh Titan, it’s 13 o’clock already. I need to go soon or I’ll be late for my afternoon lectures.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            “Whoops, I guess we shouldn’t have taken that detour flying here. Sorry about that, sis.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>             The Raven Lady clasped her hands, arched her wings (not too overly, they’re still inside after all), and cleared her throat, taking on a more formal tone, “allow us to congratulate you and Amity on the successful opening of your bookstore, and to wish you a successful business in the years to come.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>              “Oh, well, uh. Thanks, Lilith.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>              “I had to persuade her not to bring an actual scroll of commencement,” Eda stage whispered to Luz. “You know how formal Lily gets when it’s a big occasion. Baby’s first bookstore!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>              “Edaaa…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>              “Too much praise and well-wishing? Fair enough, I’ll back off,” Eda raised her hands in mock surrender.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>               Lilith called Ravenphyr back and thought for a minute while twisting him back onto the staff, “and one more thing, before I leave—.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>              “I thought you didn’t bring the scroll!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>             Her sister cast Eda with a long-suffering glare, “—I’d like to buy this book.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p>
<p> <span>Amity gave Lilith her change, said goodbye to her, and petted Ozzy. The door shrieked once again as the Raven Lady left to teach her afternoon classes at Hexside.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Luz, dear?” Amity caught her wife’s attention from the desk.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Yes, </span><em><span>brujita bonita</span></em><span>?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“I wish you hadn’t gotten a shrieking bell for the demon door.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“But it makes it so easy to tell them apart!”</span></p>
<p> <span>“I like that too, but didn’t they have any wailing bells? Those sound much nicer.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“All the bells sound the same…”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Don’t sweat it kid, Lily called me tone deaf when we were little. But ever since I got cursed those beast ears haven’t ever agreed with shrieking bells,” Eda interjected.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Was that supposed to be a sympathizing anecdote or—,” a customer came up to the desk. Amity broke off her question to sell the spider demon some books.</span></p>
<p> <span>“So Eda, do you have any plans for the afternoon?” Luz asked her mentor.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>            The Owl Lady passed a hand through her hair (and came away with a soup ladle, “so that’s where it went.”), “Uh, I didn’t actually think further than visiting you at your new store. Maybe get some eye scream? I found a party coupon earlier this morning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            “Then you won’t mind if we invite you over for dinner? I’m going to make an eyeball casserole, it’s like a tentacle casserole but with eyeballs!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            “Why not. That’ll make King happy, he’s been moping around ever since you moved out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            “Great! It takes a long time to bake so I’d better go buy the ingredients now. Ami </span>
  <em>
    <span>amor</span>
  </em>
  <span>, can you hold down the shop while I’m gone?” Luz dramatically thrust out her arm. “Keana, to me!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            The palisman nearly brained a witch as it flew across the room. The guy screamed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            While Luz frantically apologized to the customer, Eda leaned to Amity, “so do you want to get eye scream? This coupon isn’t good for just one person and it’s one day only.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            Amity’s ears flapped as she gazed dreamily at her wife, “yes…yes, eye scream sounds good.” The brown-haired witch adopted a more serious mien, “...but not until we close. In the meantime, I’d love for someone to fill in for Luz, and abominations and books don’t mix well. Can you shelve that book pile over there that I was stocking by order of author?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            Eda’s wings ruffled in amusement as she sauntered to the indicated bookshelf, “I knew I should have left with Lily. Don’t blame me if your books get some free bookmarks (“Because they’ll have feathers in them and I’m molting, get it?” “I got it”).”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p>
<p> <span>The tentacle casserole was minutes out of the oven and still steaming on the table. Tendrils flopped and writhed, threatening to knock over the cups.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Luuuuz, I’m hungry!” King banged his knife and fork on his plate.</span></p>
<p> <span>“I know King, but I promised Amity we wouldn’t eat until the whole family’s here.”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>King weh’d angrily and attempted to spear a tentacle that was just out of reach.</span>
</p>
<p> <span>“Whoooo wants eye scream!?” Eda burst through the front door, holding aloft a tub that was keening faintly but audibly. She was followed in short order by Lilith, Amity, Camila, and Hooty.</span></p>
<p> <span>“For dessert, Edalyn.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Sorry we’re late honey, Eda lost track of time trying all the samples.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Oh like you didn’t enjoy a few samples yourself, kid.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Come here and let me look at you, </span><em><span>mija</span></em><span>. It’s been too long.”</span></p>
<p> <span>“I am also here, hoot!”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Chattering, bickering, and doting; the Owl Family settled down to dinner. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Eda 'creatively' found the coupon in someone's back pocket.<br/>I enjoy the idea of eda and lilith becoming anthro owl beasts as exemplified by my absolute favorite piece of toh fanart <a href="url">https://old--night.tumblr.com/post/628072480763969538/50curse</a> so I thought I'd incorporate it into this future au.<br/>Ozzy is short for Oscura<br/>Do the parenthesis work well? I wanted to add footnotes, but the way AO3 does it I felt scrolling all the way down to the ending notes annotations and all the way back up would break the flow of reading.<br/>Also Luz is tone deaf in this AU entirely for this joke.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Learning Glyphs With Luz</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>LEARN GLYPHS WITH LUZ NOCEDA-BLIGHT<br/>AN INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOP TO THE WONDERFUL MAGIC OF GLYPHS, PRACTICAL AND THEORY, TAUGHT BY YOURS TRULY.<br/>HUMANS AND DEMONS WELCOME, AGES 6-12<br/>SATURDAYS, NOON TO 3PM</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A couple of design retcons, the portal is now on the human entrance to the bookstore, that way the shop is within the demon realm and luz can use her glyphs in the store. And the kid's corner is now a whole separate room, the entrance is in the corner though.<br/>This turned out to be a few pages longer than I expected, I hope you like the extra length.<br/>Thanks to Oubliette for beta reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>            “Who wants to learn magic!?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A forest of small hands shot up. The audience was demonic and human children of various ages. Only a sullen, proud, older human girl didn’t raise her hand.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Good to see we’ve got some enthusiasm,” Luz brought her hands together. “But first, can anyone tell me where magic comes from?”</span></p><p>
  <span>The same number of hands rose just as quickly. She selected a witchling with purple hair.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Magic comes from the bile sac!”</span></p><p> <span>“You’re correct! And for the human kids who have no idea what she’s talking about,” the latina flicked out a diagram of the witch heart; veins and aortas marked in blue and red; and the massive bile sac, hairy and green. The reaction from the human children was as expected.</span></p><p>
  <span>            “If you’re a witch, magic comes from the big, gross magic bile sac attached to the heart. Humans don’t have that magic bile sac, so instead we use the magic that the first witches mastered long ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz flicked a fan of glyph cards in one hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Glyphs.”</span>
</p><p> <span>“Today we’re gonna learn how to draw a bunch of very safe and kid-friendly glyphs!” Luz exclaimed excitedly before muttering to herself, “ ...I wanted to put in the fire glyph but Amity said no to teaching little kids how to make fireballs” The human witch upended the box and started sorting through the subsequent mess.</span></p><p>
  <span>             “Some paper and markers for me, more paper and markers for you and circle templates because none of you probably have learned to draw perfect circles, and rulers.” Paper, markers, and the rest were distributed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>              “First thing I’mma make a levitation glyph real quick, uh, I’ll use this book…ok, then again slower so you can follow along,” Luz set her paper on a children’s book on the floor. “Double circle, little circle with a bar, three circles with horns and pluses, aaaand tap!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The book rose into the air and up to the ceiling. The kids </span>
  <em>
    <span>ooooh’d</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>              “And now it’s your turn, everyone grab a book…has everyone got their markers and stuff? Gather around kids, get closer, can everyone see what I’m drawing?” she spread the paper on the ground. “First the double circle, I always do that first so I can decide how big the glyph is first thing. Also the extra circle helps focus the spell. Double circle…little circle with a bar…three circles with horns…and pluses…and tap.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The older children mastered it more quickly, and helped out the ones who didn’t; except for the human girl who never even touched the paper. Soon enough the whole ceiling of the kid’s corner was carpeted with floating books.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>              “And now…” Luz played out an exaggerated thinking pose. “What glyph should we learn next? I know, the plant glyph!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>              “Little circle in the middle with a dot, two lines, longer line, triangle with bar, and tap,” a bouquet of almond flowers sprang from the glyph.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Word to the wise, intention is the other part of the glyph. How big or what direction or what specific plant the glyph makes all depends on what you're thinking of when you activate it. So let’s everyone think of their favorite flower. Once more, with artistic enthusiasm! Little circle in the middle with a dot…two lines…longer line…triangle with bar…and tap.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After making a healing glyph for the one kid who had decided to make a cactus (he learned an important lesson), Luz noticed the human girl was sitting apart from the rest of the class. She still hadn’t drawn anything at all, in fact the kid was resolutely not drawing; sitting with her arms crossed. Luz decided to scoot around to the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “What’s the matter? Dry marker?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Magic isn’t real.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             "Is that so?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Is so. You’re just putting on a show.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “What about the demonlings? Sure most of them are just witches, pointy ears and that’s it, but that one has four eyes and that one has a second face on the back of his head.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Cosplay nerds. Mom runs a costume and prosthetics store.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “And I suppose I’ve put little gizmos on all of the papers everyone’s drawing on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “You’ve got batteries and props and a hidden radio switch, I’m sure of it. You can’t fool me because I’ve seen stage magic before and I’m too old for it anyway. I’m only here because mom still thinks I believe in magic and Santa Claus.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Oh, dear child, no one is too old for magic,” Luz smiled kindly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kid positively glared at the human witch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “This calls for extra measures,” Luz muttered. She clapped her hands, drawing the attention of the other children. “I think it’s time for a break, who wants eye scream?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kids cheered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “You’re just trying to distract me with ice cream,” The girl accused her. “All the grownups do it when I ask them too many questions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Maybe I am, but are you going to pass up eye scream?” Luz leaned out of the kid’s corner entrance and yelled across the bookshop. “Ammy! I’m taking the class out on a little field trip!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Have fun!” her wife replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>             “Ok children, it is very important that you stick close to me and don’t wander off, because if any of you do get lost and/or eaten your parents would have a fit and I’d never get to teach glyphs to kids again,” Luz lectured the class. “Now, who’s ready for eye scream?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p> <span>“I swear, this is the third time Luz’s taken a kid out for eye scream this week. And it’s a whole class this time.”</span></p><p> <span>“I thought you liked kids too, don’t you still volunteer for reading time at the library?” Willow traced a small magic circle to water her potted plant, a spindly affair with small, long leaves and eyeballs at the end of each branch, as she worked the café counter.</span></p><p> <span>“I do, but not during working hours. Half of those kids probably don’t even know they’re getting eye scream instead of ice scream. She loves to take advantage of that homophony in the names.”</span></p><p> <span>“You just wanted to be the one to introduce them to eye scream.”</span></p><p> <span>“…maybe,” Amity decided to change the subject. “Anyway, thanks for filling in for Luz while she teaches her workshop. And the apple blood stock.”</span></p><p> <span>“It’s no problem, I don’t do much on the weekend besides water my plants anyway.”</span></p><p> <span>“I hope that’s not actually as sad as it sounds. Speaking of which, is that an eyeball plant?” Amity pointed at the potted plant.</span></p><p> <span>“Mhm. I thought it might be nice to offer eyeballs as a garnish. This one isn’t big enough to grow the screaming kind, and I’m keeping it that way so it won’t be a disruption in the bookstore.” Willow plucked a particularly plump eyeball off the stem and traced a plant circle, regenerating a replacement eyeball on the stem. She popped it into her mouth. The plant witch’s ears twitched and she giggled, “that one was whimpering a tiny little bit though, I could hear it through my jaw.”</span></p><p> <span>“That’s a pretty good idea, can you serve them by flavor?” Amity magic circle’d a chalk stick to add </span><em><span>garnish of the day: non-screaming eyeball, ask barista for flavors </span></em><span>to the apple blood section.</span></p><p> <span>“Oh thank you, I can do that,” Willow used a plant circle to recolor the irises of the eyeballs on the plant, a different color each.</span></p><p>
  <span>A café customer came up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “The apple…blood?...is it organic?” The human questioned hesitantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Yes, I fought it myself.” The plant witch replied with self-satisfaction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Do you mean you grew it yourself?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “That too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Well, uh…I’d like some apple blood? With honey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Of course, would you like corpse or flower honey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Corpse honey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Excellent choice sir, it’s made by 100% free-range vulture bees. And would you like a nice eyeball to go with it? Bit of a confession, it may say non-screaming but they actually whimper just a tiny bit.” She pitched with a wink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The human was slightly terrified at this point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the customer left, Willow idled while Amity served some book patrons. Her eyes wandered until a thought came to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “How many kids are in Luz’s glyph workshop class?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “A dozen or so, why do you ask?” Amity savored a red-iris eyeball, tart and apple blood-y.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Can she pay for all of that eye scream?”</span></p><p>
  <span>Amity buried her face in her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            A dragon flew overhead (and out of sight before one of the green gargantuan arms snatched it out of the air for violating air traffic laws). The thoroughfare was as busy as ever; a lamia chatted with a pink fairy that had very sharp teeth; a gaggle of demi-spiderlings filed into a demonbus which snapped its jaws closed and took flight; a babushka’s head on legs perambulated. This was ordinary life for the witchlings, they instinctively clustered toward Nancy’s eye scream stall and tugged their human compatriots along. The human children dithered and goggled at everything; and none were more agape of all than the older girl.</span>
</p><p> <span>“This is the third time this week,” the gaping-facer reverberated. “Not that I complain. You are one of my best customers.”</span></p><p> <span>“Aw shucks, Nancy. Keep that up and you might just get yourself a tip.”</span></p><p> <span>“You have many children this time, will you be able to pay for all of them and the tip?”</span></p><p> <span>“That was a bit of human humor there.”</span></p><p> <span>“I did not say I did not want the tip.”</span></p><p> <span>Luz grinned. She tickled open her wallet. The latina counted the contents, looked at the kids, and back again, “uh. Do you do a tab, Nancy?”</span></p><p> <em><span>“LUZ!”</span></em></p><p> <span>“YES!?” the human witch flung her arms skyward. The wallet, startled by the sudden velocity, snapped shut and no snails were lost.</span></p><p> <span>“CAN’T YOU THINK AHEAD FOR ONCE?” Amity stormed to her wife. “YOU PROBABLY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH SNAILS TO PAY FOR ALL OF THAT EYE SCREAM.”</span></p><p> <span>“Well, you’re not wrong about that,” Luz tried to placate.</span></p><p> <span>“HERE, THAT ABOUT CLEANS ME OUT. NOW EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET EYE SCREAM. AND I’M GETTING EYE SCREAM TOO.”</span></p><p> <span>“I kind of promised Nancy a tip too…”</span></p><p> <span>“THEN THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE.”</span></p><p> <span>“Wait, nooo.” (Amity eventually took pity and let her share with her own eye scream).</span></p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            The human children were having their own culinary adventure. Encouraged by their B.I. counterparts, some took more readily to the eye scream than others (one instantly declared it ‘awesome!’ and dug in, while another refused to touch it); but in the end all of them loved it every bit as much as they loved ice cream.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The human girl could hardly chew, for want of actually closing her mouth as she gaped at everything until Luz closed it for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Still think you’re too old for magic?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Ahm, uh,” she swallowed quickly. “I didn’t think it was real.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Did you know,” the glyphs teacher took her hand and led her a little ways. “I chose this spot for the bookstore for sentimental reasons. It’s where I emerged into the demon realm for the first time, a decade ago now. And also for the view.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stopped in front of the cliff. Before them was the expanse of Bonesborough; densely packed medieval houses punctuated by giant demon head domes, a cathedral building flanked by sequoia-tall green arms. And towering over it all, the gargantuan titan’s ribs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “That was the start of an incredible journey,” she continued. “It was terrifying and horrifying...and slimy, stinky, and gross. Still is, but also it was exhilarating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz took out a glyph from her book bag. The girl hadn’t been particularly paying attention, but she thought it seemed like a new glyph; different from the couple the latina had already taught them. She tapped it and it transformed into a little orb of light. It reminded her of a miniature, soft sun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “And wonderful," she watched it float away with a gleam in her eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            "I still remember when I was just a young girl, only a few years older than you. The quiet wonder I felt when I discovered my first glyph. I practiced it so much until I could see it when I closed my eyes like an afterimage. I still feel that wonder whenever I use a glyph, I wanted to spread a little bit of that with the workshop,” the teacher kneeled down and put another light glyph into the girl’s hand. “And I have an idea for the next glyph, would you like to help me with it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The girl nodded eagerly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Okay kids, what’s the first thing I draw?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Double circle!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Double circle! Then a big triangle. Little circle and triangle, long line, parallel lines, aaaand tap.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The glyph transformed into a floating orb of light, crinkling and consuming the paper as it rose. A collective “</span>
  <em>
    <span>ooooooh</span>
  </em>
  <span>” arose from the audience.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Ah, that’ll always be my favorite glyph. And now, to call on a volunteer to help me showcase a couple of important ideas. Who wants to be it?”</span></p><p>
  <span>The forest of hands shot up. Luz deliberately selected the older girl who now had her hand up as well, just as enthusiastic as the rest.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Come on around, mind that table…let’s introduce yourself. What’s your name?”</span></p><p> <span>“…dy,” the girl then giggled.</span></p><p> <span>“What was that?” Luz leaned in and whispered with a conspiratorial grin. </span><em><span>“Just like we planned. Let’s put on a show for the class.”</span></em></p><p> <span>“Maddy!”</span></p><p> <span>“That was great! Now, do you know what a mnemonic is, Maddy?”  Luz’s grin widened as the girl shook her head. “Mnemonics are a great way for memorizing anything you want to. All you have to do is come up with a familiar object that the thing reminds you of, and then when you want to remember the thing you just think of that object. It’s really simple! In this case, we’re gonna use a mnemonic to memorize a glyph. So I want you to tell me,” </span></p><p>
  <span>Luz brought out the light glyph. “What does this look like?”</span>
</p><p> <span>Maddy made a show of tilting her head and considering the paper. “I think it looks like…an umbrella, with a pointy ball on top.”</span></p><p> <span>“Alright, an umbrella. Now take a good look, try to memorize it. It’s an umbrella with a pointy ball on top. And don’t forget the little diagonal lines! You’ve got your circle templates and ruler, and…go!”</span></p><p>
  <span>The girl quickly sketched out a passable copy of the light glyph.</span>
</p><p> <span>The human witch showed the drawing off to the class, “look how well she drew it, even though she didn’t look at the original even once. That’s the power of mnemonics!” </span></p><p>
  <span>She handed it back to Maddie. “If you’d do the honors?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kids didn’t seem to tire of the lights. Luz knew she never did.</span>
</p><p> <span>“And now for our next trick, accuracy! This time I want you to draw with the mnemonic, but without the circle templates and ruler. It doesn’t need to be perfect, in fact I don’t want you to draw it correctly, just kinda looks like it. Can you do that Maddy?”</span></p><p>
  <span>Maddy nodded.</span>
</p><p> <span>“While intent is an important part of using the glyph, drawing them accurately is also equally important. There’s a reason for why they always appear in the same shape and configuration in nature in the demon realm. If you draw them differently, you’ll either end up with a nonfunctional glyph, or a different one entirely,” the girl finished her drawing and handed it to Luz, who showed it off to the class with the original glyph for comparison.</span></p><p> <span>“And so you see, if you’d like to activate them Maddie? Both if you please…the one she drew inaccurately on purpose didn’t do anything at all. This is why I’m going to tell you to practice, practice, practice! When I first discovered glyphs I drew them over and over again until I could see them in my sleep. But I’ll understand if you don’t want to practice them that much.” Luz laughed.</span></p><p>
  <span>          Luz looked at the living clock and was surprised to see how much time had gone by, “Whoops, the workshop should have ended like thirty minutes ago, that’s on me. Buuut I feel bad picking on Maddy’s drawing skills like that. So I’m gonna show her a glyph I was saving for next week, and she can decide if the rest of the class gets to see it now too or have to wait, would you like that Maddy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maddy seemed pleased.</span>
</p><p> <span>“So it goes like this…and then this…a bunch of that…and now it’s all yours!”</span></p><p>
  <span>A slightly younger Maddy (i.e. before Luz’s glyph workshop) would have thanked you nicely like the polite child she was for the magic symbol you gave her, then dropped it in the trash as soon as she thought you weren’t looking. A slightly older Maddy instead set the glyph on the floor in full view of the class and tapped it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Don’t forget to practice the glyphs! At least draw a couple every night, and don’t just trace over the guide. You all have the glyph guides right? I color-coded them to help you remember which glyph does what spell. And think about things to use as mnemonics! Also glyphs don’t work in the human realm. Have fun! Don’t stay out too late!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Luz, they’re just going back home with their parents.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Oh, right. Well that was fun. Went on longer than I expected, and hit a little snag with one of the older kids but I cleared that up. Overall I’d say the glyph workshop was a resounding success!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz did a self-assured twirl with Keana and rapped her palisman on the floor to deactivate the light glyphs engraved on the ceiling trim. A small lightfall of tiny, soft suns drifted to the floor where they cast the bookstore in upside-down shadows, eventually dissipating. This was also accompanied by thudding sounds from the kid’s corner.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Oh, I forgot about the books we practiced the levitation glyphs on.”</span></p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Boy I wonder how much of this will get validated when s2 comes around and we learn more about glyphs. The levitation glyph is just me throwing in mercury (mind) and salt (body) on the logic of mind over body/matter, going from this reddit post pointing out how the glyphs are combinations of alchemical symbols. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/ioqioj/alchemy_and_glyphs/ <br/>Vulture bees and corpse/meat honey is an actual thing! http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2018/01/18/this-species-of-bee-makes-honey-from-rotting-flesh/<br/>I'm imagining Gus is somewhere out in the human realm, traveling abroad or interning. He's having a sitcom adventure, like an HP wizard who has no idea of how everyday muggle objects work.<br/>Oh titan I forgot about Ozzy, pretend he's doing some adorable bookstore otter thing offscreen.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Two Boys and the Bookstore</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Two human teenagers decide to investigate the bookstore.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This turned out longer than expected too, so I spent more time on it. Maybe that's a sign that I'm hitting my stride.<br/>As always thanks to Oubliette for beta reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>               Eda sighed when she heard the screams, but she finished her apple blood before she did anything about it. It was far too early for this kind of thing (read: before noon. As far as Eda was concerned, waking up before ten was an abomination unto Eda). Then she brushed spiders out of her feathers and strolled out into the early morning. Ten years ago she would have trod out in slippers, but her now-taloned feet obviated any need or practicality for footwear. Eda still missed being able to wear slippers. The everoranges rustled gently. A handowl flew between the treetops. The sky was clear, though with ominous red clouds in the distance. And Hooty had captured a couple of teenagers by the edge of the clearing.</span>
</p><p> <span>As she got closer, she noticed they had round ears, “well now. Whatever could a couple of humans be doing here?”</span></p><p> <span>“I caught them Eda! Hoot!”</span></p><p> <span>“Yes, thank you Hooty.”</span></p><p> <span>“Wow you really are an owl lady!”</span></p><p> <span>“</span><em><span>Razzy shut up,”</span></em><span> the second human urgently whispered to his friend. “We’re, uh, we are very sorry for having trespassed on your land, great Owl Lady, and we promise to never come back here if you let us go. </span><em><span>Pleasedon’teatus</span></em><span>.”</span></p><p> <span>“Well I don’t know,” Eda put her hand on her chin in a pensive pose. “Trespassing is a pretty serious crime. That’s also possible attempted burglary and casing the joint. Maybe you were trying to steal my secret ingredients. Maybe I </span><em><span>should</span></em><span> eat you, just to be sure.” She grinned, baring her fangs.</span></p><p>
  <span>The teenager turned white and just about fainted.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Wow, I didn’t think I was </span><em><span>that</span></em><span> convincing. Maybe Lily’s right that I need to preen more.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The first teenager spoke up, “well, you have a bit of blood on your mouth so I think it’s understandable for my friend to faint, considering the circumstances.”</span>
</p><p> <span>“Oh, that’s just an apple blood mustache,” she licked it away.</span></p><p> <span>“That’s still concerning!</span><em><span>”</span></em><span> The second teenager exclaimed, still pale.</span></p><p> <span>“Yeah, well welcome to the Boiling Isles. </span><em><span>LILY!”</span></em></p><p> <span>“</span><em><span>What?”</span></em></p><p> <span>“</span><em><span>HOOTY CAUGHT A COUPLE OF HUMANS!”</span></em></p><p> <em><span>“Did they come from the bookstore?”</span></em></p><p> <em><span>“YEAH!”</span></em><span> Eda turned to the humans. “You did come from the bookstore right?”</span></p><p>
  <span>They nodded, befuddled.</span>
</p><p> <em><span>“CAN YOU CALL LUZ!?”</span></em></p><p> <em><span>“I am, Edalyn. Don’t forget to bring in the laundry.”</span></em></p><p> <span>“Looks like the blood mist is rolling in, you can stick with us and we’ll take you to Bonesborough and then to the bookstore once it dissipates. Luz would be sad if I let you get lost, and Amity would probably kill me for making her sad.”</span></p><p> <span>“The what mist?”</span></p><p> <span>“It brings nutrients and terror,” Eda smirked. “Ok Hooty, they’re friends, bring them on in. And don’t forget the laundry.”</span></p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And here we are!” Razzy excitedly proclaimed.</span>
</p><p> <span>“This is what you dragged me out to go look at, at nine in the morning on a Saturday?” Calvin groused.</span></p><p>
  <span>Two teenage boys stood in front of Books To Another World.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Oh come on, haven’t you heard the rumors? Everyone’s been talking about the weird things that’ve been happening here ever since it showed up last month.”</span></p><p> <span>“My aunt was raving about how her kid daughter went to hell through there when she had too much to drink at the party, so yes.”</span></p><p> <span>“So you admit this one could be good!”</span></p><p> <span>“I do not, the abandoned warehouse was atmospheric, but this is just a bookstore. There’s nothing unusual about bookstores, even if this one did set up and open in a strangely short amount of time.”</span></p><p> <span>“This book says Cakes, Cookies, Curses, &amp; More!”</span></p><p> <span>“Halloween book.”</span></p><p> <span>“That one has an eye, I’m pretty sure it’s looking at me!”</span></p><p> <span>“Over the top bookcover.”</span></p><p> <span>“Ok, well </span><em><span>this door</span></em><span>…has some lovely woodwork patterns.” (Had he looked back at the door after they went inside, he would have certainly commented on the giant eye on that side of the portal door)</span></p><p> <span>“Are we going in or not?”</span></p><p> <span>“Ah, suddenly just window shopping isn’t enough for you.”</span></p><p> <span>“Just because everyone is looking at us.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The doorbell chimed pleasantly. There was the counter and a café right next. Completely ordinary humans milled about, but there were also some people in unnecessarily extravagant cosplays. The second teenager didn’t even have to look at his friend, he just absolutely knew that he would be making that face. He privately described it as ‘that stupid face’, the last time his friend made it was when the abandoned house turned out to be a meeting spot for a voodoo cult (later it then turned out they were just LARPers, that was rather embarrassing for all parties involved).</span>
</p><p> <span>“That guy has 3 eyes!”</span></p><p> <span>“Cosplayer.”</span></p><p> <span>“That dog has clothes and glasses!”</span></p><p>
  <span>            “Cosplayer’s dog.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            &lt;Those humans have an aura of impoliteness.&gt; Barcus barked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Well, uhhh, that’s an otter! On the desk there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Now you’re just reaching.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “How am I reaching, no one just has an otter for a pet!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “While I’ll grant you it’s a little weird, it’s definitely not the weirdest pet anyone could have by far.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Then…you won’t complain if we go ask her how she got it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            “Wait, what.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it was too late, Calvin was already headed toward the counter. There was no line, so he was free to ask the storekeeper, a Dominican woman with long maroon hair and a beanie.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Pardon me miss, is that your otter?”</span></p><p> <span>“He is! His name is Oscuro, or Ozzy for short. He’s our very own bookstore otter,” she gave Ozzy a chin scratch. </span><em><span>“With a dark side.”</span></em></p><p>
  <span>He gave his friend a sideward glance.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Ok fine that one’s just a crazy cat lady, but with otters instead,” the first teenager muttered back.</span></p><p> <span>He turned to the shopkeeper, “so how did you get the o—.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The teenager was interrupted by ringing with notes of unholy wailing.</span>
</p><p> <span>“What the hell was that!?” he jumped.</span></p><p> <span>“Close enough, that’s just the demon doorbell. How was your walk, </span><em><span>cariña</span></em><span>?”</span></p><p>
  <span>A gray demon whose head was a honeycomb filled with eyeballs emerged from the entrance to the demon realm. The teenager tried to be nonplussed at the appearance of the demon and failed. But then behind the monster was an auburn haired woman carrying a wood staff with a snake wrapped around it.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Braxas says hello. He’s really grown now, this high.”</span></p><p> <span>“Oh wow, it seems only like yesterday when he was an adorable little kid. Just like his little brother is now.”</span></p><p> <span>“Also I picked up the book stock you’ve been forgetting to get.”</span></p><p> <span>“Oh that’s great! We’ve been running low, haven’t we.”</span></p><p> <span>“Don’t think I’ll let you off the hook for that, they’ve been sitting there for </span><em><span>days</span></em><span>. You’re bringing them in.”</span></p><p> <span>“But Ammyyyy…”</span></p><p>
  <span>Razzy spoke up, “we’ll help you bring them in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calvin looked at his friend, “what.”</span>
</p><p> <span>“Did you see what was out there through that door? We’ve got to get in there!”</span></p><p> <span>“But—.”</span></p><p> <span>“Those nice boys have offered to help, Ammy. how can we turn down such kindness? We can even give them some free apple blood, or exchange their money for snails and introduce them to eye scream!”</span></p><p> <span>“Luz—.”</span></p><p> <span>“</span><em><span>La bruja más hermosa que amo?”</span></em><span> She followed up her plea with a massive pair of puppy dog eyes.</span></p><p> <span>“…Fine, I’ll find some other punishment for you later,” the brown-headed woman smiled at the teenagers, who had only just noticed that her ears were pointed . “Luz insists, and that </span><em><span>is</span></em><span> kind of you. I left them right by the door. Just bring them in by the desk and we’ll sort them out ourselves.”</span></p><p> <span>“Oh and you’ll need this,” Luz gave them a quire of papers stamped with abstract symbols.</span></p><p> <span>“Uh, what’s this?”</span></p><p> <span>“Just slap each on a stack and tap. It’ll make your life much easier.”</span></p><p> <span>“…Thanks?”</span></p><p> <span>Calvin leaned in, “maybe these are really big stamps.”</span></p><p> <span>“But what did she mean by it? Ooh, maybe it’s a mystical sigil to bless the books with.”</span></p><p> <span>He elected to bring Razzy back to their original goal before his friend got lost in examining the paper symbols, “let’s go out that door you were so curious about.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The doorbell wailed again unnervingly as they stepped through.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the dynamic of their friendship duo, Calvin was the staunch preacher of the mundanity of life in contrast to Razzy's enthusiasm for the supernatural. It was a position that he tended to be proven correct in, but in this particular case his unshakeable belief in the ordinariness of life was rapidly degrading.</span>
</p><p> <span>Monsters walked down the street. A spider-headed woman bought a slop from Big Blobs; three big green heads rolled in their own little pile through the traffic; an orc did a cartwheel. Calvin was bewildered while Razzy was grinning his head off.</span></p><p> <span>“This…can’t be real.”</span></p><p> <span>“This is amazing!”</span></p><p> <span>“Ok, alright…if we take this calmly and rationally I’m sure we can—get back here!”</span></p><p> <span>Razzy had been about to accost the cartwheeling orc, “what? I just want to talk to him, or her…it?”</span></p><p> <span>“You can’t just go up to strangers on the street, even if it's another world!”</span></p><p> <span>“Why?”</span></p><p> <span>“Well, you could get eaten for all I know,” Calvin belatedly remembered that the threat of mortal peril was seldom an effective deterrent to his friend and in fact only seemed to encourage him. He switched to a different track. “Because we have a job you volunteered us for, remember?”</span></p><p> <span>“Oh yeah. They said they’d give us treats, where’s the books?”</span></p><p>
  <span>The books were in several very sizable stacks sitting right outside the bookstore.</span>
</p><p> <span>“How on earth are we supposed to lift those!?”</span></p><p> <span>“With these,” Razzy held up the symbol papers.</span></p><p> <span>His friend stared at him, deadpan. “with those.”</span></p><p> <span>“Yes.”</span></p><p> <span>“It’s paper.”</span></p><p> <span>“That lady gave it to us exactly for that reason, she even told us how to use them.”</span></p><p> <span>“What, are they just going to levitate?”</span></p><p>
  <span>            ...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The book stacks levitated.</span>
</p><p> <span>“In retrospect we </span><em><span>are</span></em><span> in a terrifying fantasy world, so I should have been open to the possibility of magic as well.”</span></p><p>
  <span>Even though the abstract symbol cancelled the books’ weight, their mass was still present. Pushing the hovering stacks around was like they were on ice. Making a sharp turn at the door, the boys quickly learned not to give them too much momentum, since they’d have to expend just as much energy to stop the objects as they did pushing them.</span>
</p><p> <span>Once they were done, the bookstore lady took their money and gave them another currency that she called ‘snails’. They weren’t actually snails, just paper bills. They did have stylized snail icons though.</span></p><p> <span>“I feel like she meant something else very different when she told us they served ice cream here.”</span></p><p> <span>“Where’s your sense of adventure? This is a once in a lifetime treat!”</span></p><p> <span>“My sense of adventure left me the moment little screaming eyeballs as a food item were a thing.”</span></p><p> <span>“Just one eye won’t kill you.”</span></p><p> <span>“It’s already killed my appetite.”</span></p><p> <span>“Your loss then—oh wow, that’sh great,” he munched the confection, savored it, and swallowed. “Chewy and sweet, it’s like they’re filled with syrup that bursts out when you pop one. Only it’s probably eyeball liquid instead, what’s the word for that? And they keep screaming in your mouth until you bite down. That’s really fun.”</span></p><p> <span>“Vitreous humor.”</span></p><p> <span>“Tashty vitreoush humor!”</span></p><p> <span>“Are you done?”</span></p><p> <span>“Not by a long shot.”</span></p><p> <span>“Ugh, at least promise me as soon as you’re done with that eye scream, we’re going back an—,” but instead of returning to the bookstore, Calvin’s friend was striking up a conversation with the monstrous eye scream vendor.</span></p><p> <span>Razzy couldn’t find any eyes to look at so he settled for gazing into its cavernous maw, “pardon me my good man—.”</span></p><p> <span>“I am a lady,” the gaping-facer stated in a voice so low he thought he could feel his bones vibrate.</span></p><p> <span>“My mistake,” the human amended without pausing. “Are there any </span><em><span>interesting</span></em><span> things or people that we could look at?”</span></p><p> <span>“If you were witches, I would have pointed you to the bookstore. But you are humans, so perhaps I will point you to the cathedral or the arena. Ah, if you are being tourists I will tell you things to avoid as well. Avoid the Owl Lady, never befriend a man in sandals—.”</span></p><p> <span>“The Owl Lady? Where’s that?” Razzy interrupted. “So that we know where to not go.”</span></p><p> <span>“Owl Lady, she lives at…”</span></p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And then we came here and the tube owl ambushed us while we were reconnoitering in the bushes,” Razzy finished and sipped some apple blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two teenagers sat in the living room in chairs and the Clawthornes on the couch. Molting season had started for Eda and Lilith so the floor was lightly dusted with grey, red, and blue feathers.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Why I followed you instead of staying at the bookstore is beyond me,” Calvin grumbled and eyed his apple blood with suspicion.</span></p><p> <span>“Does your friend need an eyeball for his apple blood?” Lilith whispered to Razzy. “I think we have some green ones.”</span></p><p> <span>“He’s fine, it’s not the apple blood,” Razzy whispered back. “This is great blood by the way. Sweet and tangy with a bit of umami.”</span></p><p> <span>“Thank you,” the Raven Lady flicked her long tufted ears in delight. “I slaughtered it myself.”</span></p><p> <span>“And that’s it for me,” Calvin stood up from the couch. “Don’t think I’m going to stay in this terrifying fantasy world for even a second longer. Have fun guys.”</span></p><p> <span>“Whoa, slow down kid,” Eda pointed a talon to the window from where she lounged on the couch. “Hooty’s still moving, unless you want to fall off. And It’s still pure red out there, you’d be cleaning blood out of your clothes. It takes </span><em><span>forever</span></em><span> to get it out of feathers.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The sisters shuddered in unison, their plumage raising and lowering.</span>
</p><p> <span>“It’ll be another few minutes, probably. Just sit down and finish your apple bloo—.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The house shook. Eda fell off the couch while Lilith was mostly unperturbed, Razzy managed to save his apple blood but Calvin was a lost cause.</span>
</p><p> <span>“Whoa, easy on the landing Hooty!”</span></p><p> <span>“Sorry Eda! Hoot.”</span></p><p> <span>The Owl Lady pulled herself back up and smoothed her feathers, “well, we’re here. The bookstore is just a couple streets away, I’ll take you two while Lily puts away the laundry. Sure you don’t want to stay? You’d get to clean up this mess.”</span></p><p> <span>“Why am </span><em><span>I </span></em><span>staying? It’s your turn to put away the laundry.”</span></p><p> <span>“You cursed me.”</span></p><p> <span>“That was ten years ago Edalyn.”</span></p><p> <span>“Does that mean you’re not going to let me get out of folding the laundry?”        </span></p><p> <span>Lilith fixed her sister with a long gaze…then conceded, “well be far it from me to let you visit your favorite adopted daughter, but as long as you’re going why don’t you bring—.”</span></p><p> <span>She deposited a large box into Eda’s arms, “this.”</span></p><p> <span>Another one, “this.”</span></p><p>
  <span>Several more, “and these.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An overburdened Eda glared at Lilith from under the towering stack of containers, “well played.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After Belos had been defeated, Eda no longer needed to move her shop stall every few hours. She made Hooty extend a new bottom floor for the Owl House to use as her store. Between the musty and overpacked potion shelves, she deposited the crates onto the teenagers (and only remembered to draw them a levitation glyph after Razzy mentioned it).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>. . .</span>
</p><p> <span>“So that’s where they went, I’m glad you brought them back,” Luz thanked Eda. “I wasn’t worried at all.”</span></p><p> <span>“She was very worried,” Amity said.</span></p><p> <span>“No sweat kid, they had fun. Nothing quite like a walk out after the blood mist. You can almost hear the flesh growths swelling from all those nutrients.”</span></p><p> <span>“</span><em><span>Everything was so red…and shiny,”</span></em><span> Calvin whispered to himself in a small and horrified voice. Razzy’s face was an intriguing shade of green.</span></p><p> <span>“Also I thought I’d bring you some stuff,” She tapped the floor with Owlbert and the door made a thudding sound.</span></p><p> <span>Eda looked back and scowled, “okay, who closed the door?”</span></p><p> <span>“Uh,” Razzy raised his hand.</span></p><p> <span>“Yeah, I should’ve checked before trying to look impressive,” Eda started to move toward the door.</span></p><p> <span>“Leave that to me, Eda!” Luz quickly did a pose, drew a levitation glyph, and skillfully flicked it at the door. It annealed to the wood, glowed, and the entrance opened of its own accord with a jangle of demonic wailing.</span></p><p> <span>“Outdone by my own apprentice,” the Owl Lady smirked.</span></p><p> <span>“I’d never try to outdo you!"</span></p><p> <span>“Years too late, kid,” Eda tapped Owlbert again and this time the crates glided into the bookstore like they should have the first time around. “Anyway here’s some boxes, I heard you were running low and thought you’d like some more.”</span></p><p>
  <span>“On boxes?”</span>
</p><p> <span>“Never hurts to have a few extra lying around. Suppose you think you’ve got enough boxes, but suddenly now you don’t and all your stuff is lying around without any boxes to put it in! You’re now standing there wishing you had more boxes.”</span></p><p> <span>“You don’t know what in those boxes do you?”</span></p><p> <span>“No I do not.”</span></p><p> <span>Luz pulled open a lid, “textbooks! Those must be the out-of-date ones Lilith said she was going to send us.”</span></p><p> <span>“Even more books? Don’t you already have enough?”</span></p><p> <span>“This </span><em><span>is</span></em><span> a bookstore, Eda.”</span></p><p> <span>“Fair point. Usually I acquire books by stealing them from the library and returning them way overdue.”</span></p><p> <span>“Why do you bother returning them if you’re stealing them?”</span></p><p> <span>“Professionals have standards.”</span></p><p> <span>“Well, that was a fun conversation,” Amity summoned a couple of abominations. “But lunch break is almost over and those two kids need to get back to their parents so they won’t think they’re lost any more.”</span></p><p> <span>“We go out for a lot longer than that all the time!” Razzy protested as the abomination pushed him to the portal. Calvin was too off put by the soggy contact with the purple mud golem to say anything.</span></p><p> <span>“Then get a permission slip from your parents next time,” Amity retorted at the closing door.</span></p><p> <span>“Wasn’t that a little harsh,</span><em><span> cariño</span></em><span>?”</span></p><p> <span>“The store is your dream, I don’t want to see anyone ruin it.”</span></p><p> <span>“What a wholesome couple of lovebirds, I’d better get out of here before my fangs rot,” Eda backed to the door, waving a scone. “And before Lily decides to make Hooty move the house, there’s probably already sellers complaining about us taking up our spot on a weekend.”</span></p><p> <span>“Eventually I’m going to figure out how Eda can still swipe things like that scone at a distance without circle magic,” Luz put her hand on her chin and squinted. “Did she figure out a teleport glyph?”</span></p><p> <span>“I’m sure you will,” Amity gave her wife a quick peck, while making a magic circle to flip the CLOSED/OPEN signs. “But let’s leave that for later. We’ve got a store to run.”</span></p><p>
  <span>The doorbells jingled and wailed as the first customers of the afternoon rush came in.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>“La bruja más hermosa que amo?” - "Most pretty witch who I love?"<br/>cariño - dear<br/>Quire is an actual word! It's 4 sheets of paper.<br/>I just realized that I had given Ozzy, who is male, the feminine form of the word. Henceforth his name is Oscuro.<br/>I've decided that Amity's palisman is a milk snake named Milkah (yes there is a specific naming scheme I'm going to stick with unless S2 reveals otherwise).<br/>The dominant forest type of the Boiling Isles seems to be temperate coniferous, evergreens basically. Only they're orange, so everorange. Demon chlorophyll? An overcoloring pigment that protects against the boiling rain? Even if they don't address that kind of purely lore-specific worldbuilding that won't stop me from speculating.<br/>Blood mist is my own addition to the roster of Boiling Isles weather conditions, just because the ones Eda listed weren't quite horrifying enough heheh.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Luz has a levitation glyph on top of the bookstack which she was controlling remotely with her palisman. I didn't add that detail in because it would have been hidden from the boy's point of view.<br/>I'm imagining eye scream to be like ikura (salmon roe) but chewy and sweet.<br/>The otter's name is Oscura-spanish for 'dark' (get it?), and Luz's palisman is Keana or Keabert. I wonder what Amity's palisman should be...<br/>The posting text field lost half the formatting and I had to reformat it, so I'd like to know how to paste the draft with everything intact, can I just upload the document from word or google doc?</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>